This invention relates to point-of-sale (POS) systems and retail stores. More specifically, this invention relates to transaction terminals at POS locations in small retail stores.
Brick-and-mortar retailers may be divided into three classes based on the number of registers at a store. A tier-1 retailer may have, say, twenty-six (26) or more cash registers at one store. A tier-2 retailer may have 3 to 25 cash registers. Tier-3 retailers have one or two registers per store. (These tiers may overlap at their boundaries.)
The cash registers at the tier-1 and tier-2 stores, termed “electronic cash registers” or “ECRs,” tend to be qualitatively different from the registers at tier-3 stores. A tier 1-tier 2 cash register may cost $5,000 or more. For its expense, an ECR is programmed or programmable to handle activities beyond that of a cash register. In an integrated POS system, an ECR may communicatively couple with a POS device such as a check reader or a magnetic-strip reader. The ECR has sufficient intelligence to control the POS device, say, to obtain credit- or debit-card information from the magnetic-strip reader, combine it with the transaction total that the ECR has computed and forward it all to an external payment processor for authentication and approval. The IBM ECR model 4690, available from International Business Machine Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., is an example of a prior-art ECR.
In comparison, the cash registers of tier-3 retailers are typically much less sophisticated. These cash registers cost about $500 to $800—significantly less than the tier 1-tier 2 ECRs. For their affordability, stand-beside cash registers are not able to control POS devices co-located with the cash register. Any magnetic-strip/POS reader located with such a tier-3 register, for example, itself possesses the intelligence to send card information to a remote payment processor for authorization.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior-art POS transaction environment 200 for a tier-3 POS location. The POS transaction environment 200 includes a cash register 210, a payment-processing device 220 (optionally integrating a check/magnetic-strip reader 221 and a printer 222), a PIN pad 230 and a communications link 240. The link 240 communicatively connects the device 220 and the PIN pad 230.
In a retail system including the transaction environment 200 and a remote payment processor 300, a link 400 communicatively connects the transaction environment 200—through its device 220—to the payment processor 300. Notably, the cash register 210 and the payment-processing device 220 do not communicate.
The OMNI models 460 and 470, available from VeriFone, a division of Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., with their printer 900 and CR 600 check-reader options, are examples of prior-art payment processing devices 220. The OMNI 460 has automatic-payment-processing and receipt-printing capabilities. The OMNI 470 combines a payment terminal, a printer and a PIN pad. Both OMNI terminals can transfer data via modem. Eclipse-brand payment terminals convert paper checks into electronic items for instant funds transfer from a customer's account to the merchant's.
Hypercom, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., makes T7 and T8 series of transaction terminals. The T7 series include a 35-key keyboard, LCD display, a card reader and a receipt printer.
IVI Checkmate, Roswell, Ga., makes an eN and Elite series of transaction terminals with PIN-pad and receipt-printer peripherals. Most of these terminals have direct-dial capability, integrated card readers and an LCD. Functions such as check reading, thermal receipt printing and wireless communication are optional.
In this tier-3 environment, processing a credit-card payment involves the cashier determining the dollar amount of the transaction using the cash register 210 and sliding the credit card through the check/magnetic-strip reader 221. The cashier then enters the transaction dollar amount into the device 220. The MSR 221 provides the requisite card information such as card number and expiration date. The device 220 then (dials and) communicates with the remote payment processor 300 to authorize the transaction. Upon authorization, the printer 222 prints a paper receipt which the customer then signs.
Processing a debit-card payment is similar: Instead of signing a paper receipt, the customer enters a PIN on the separate PIN pad.
Such a credit or debit transaction may take 6 to 22 seconds, depending on the type of connection with the remote payment processor. The customer idly waits for the transaction approval. Except for the entry of a PIN (if ever necessary, for a debit-card transaction, for example), the customer does not interact at all with the transaction system 200.
While such a setup allows the merchant to use credit- or debit-cards as payment for goods or services at a cost much less than with integrated ECRs, the setup obliges the retailer to forgo certain additional sources of revenue. For example, the intelligence of the payment-processing device is limited to communicating and authorizing transaction information.
Accordingly, the art seeks a tier-3 POS environment that is less costly than the tier-1 and tier-2 environments but nonetheless offers the opportunity to convert the idle times of the customer into potential revenue.
These and other goals of the invention will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art on reading the background above and the description below.